The Way of the Wind
by Icarus Aurora
Summary: The Thunder Bears and Eagle Bolt have been sent by Peter Skyrine to take a Tower. But he hasn't told them what to do...
1. Chapter 1

The Way of the Wind

Chapter 1

The sun was rising over the guild house. Its rays sparkled on the stones of the arena and casting shadows. It was a picturesque scene, worthy of a calendar, but Paddy was paying it no attention. He was preoccupied trying to remove his splitting headache with a very large coffee at the bar while Alicia wiped the inside of mugs with a damp cloth. The rest of the place was empty as nearly everyone else was still in bed. Staring into the depths of the drink and trying to remember what happened the previous night, which was difficult despite the fact he hadn't gone to sleep yet. He was interrupted from his thoughts, or what was left of them, by another person striding in.

"Hey, log head!"

Paddy raised his head. "Morning Steff, I see my amazing lieutenant is taking charge again". She ignored the sarcasm. She was the same age as Paddy with her dirty blonde hair pulled behind her in a ponytail. She was Canadian and one of the guild members who had joined from Camp Half-Blood. Paddy had picked her up when he was working down that area and brought her along, although there was debate around the guild if that was the only reason.

"Peter wants the division mobilized, and you're needed to give the orders"

Paddy groaned. "What! Sky wants us out at this time in the morning? It's like half past ten, In the morning!'

Steff's grey eyes flashed. "You're in charge and this is a joint operation,"

"With who, no one's this mad to do something with our division unless there about a mile away, they might get in the way of Richie!"

"We're going with Jim and his Thunder Bears"

Paddy snorted "Thunderbirds"

Steff nearly smiled, "come on you've got to give the pep talk"

Grumbling, in several different languages, Paddy followed her up the stairs. The place was starting to wake up. People were beginning to wander around and go down to breakfast. Paddy and Steff passed them going all the way up to the floor where the male quarters were placed. As they reached the landing they stopped. There was a distinct Jamaican Reggae coming from the door of Paddy's Team, Men's Quarters. He sighed and pushed open the door.

Paddy's Team, Men's Quarters room was a weird room. It was a cross between a secret agent base, a weapon depot and a games room. It was messy, maybe because of the amount of people in the room. Also, in Paddy's opinion, a room full of weapons and bottles of many liquids could never be clean. He sighed and called his group to order.

"Alright, alright, Aurora unplug and listen to me, Freddie turn that game off, Richie stop doing pull ups your making me feel ill and Dwayne will you turn that bloody music down!"

Everyone stopped and came to order, apart from Dwayne.

"But boss, it's Bob Marley"

"It's also half past bloody ten in the morning and I should be in bed!"

He reluctantly turned the music down. Paddy now calmed down, strode to his desk and put his feet up on the table, reading through the letter on the Team's "Info" desk. "Alright, are we all here?" He looked around. "Where's Victor?"

"Down fixing the truck," said Freddie "I'll explain it to him later" Freddie was black and well built. He was also very tall which made him the best basketball player in the guild, excluding Peter as that was from an unfair advantage. This distance he could throw a basket ball was huge and probably to do with the weapons he used in battle. Anyone could understand that a bow and arrow is good but it was sort of trumped when someone can throw hammer at you from probably the same distance.

"Cool, so we've got an assignment to do." Paddy continued, "Orders from Peter himself so you best not mess it up. Aurora, put up these coordinates on the screen." As he read out the letters she entered them on to the surveillance map of the world on the huge screen on the wall opposite. It focused onto a point just north of the guild on the other side of the mountains. The close scan revealed a tower. It was big but pretty bashed up.

"Well," Paddy continued "that's where we're going. There's some sort of monster problem up there so we need to clear it out.

"What kind of monsters?" asked Aurora.

"That's the fun bit" said Paddy, "When we get there, we find out"

Only Peter could give a mission like that thought Paddy. Just a destination and nothing else except to go to it and clear it. Oh well, at least it gave some variety.

"We'll take the trucks and so we can bring all the kit, so aside from that it should be fairly simple. Any questions?" he concluded.

"Yeh," said Dwayne, "Do we get to have breakfast?"

"If you gear up quick enough probably" replied Paddy, "Oh, and one more thing, this is a joint operation. We'll be working with the thunder bears."

From the corner Dwayne sniggered, "Thunderbirds"

* * *

><p>'You have so got to be kidding me,'<p>

'We haven't got a choice, get used to it,' said Amethyst darkly in the corner of the room.

'Aw come on, they might not know the right way to hold a sword is by holding onto the handle but at least we know we can count on them,' Oliver smiled from the top bunk.

'Oliver, you can count on everyone in the guild,' said Jim getting up from the desk.

'True,' Oliver Merlin grinned. 13 years old and if there was a black background behind him with some skeletons flanking him, he would have been the ultimate evil sorcerer. His dark shaggy hair covered part of his face only allowing one of his eyes to be fully seen. His eyes we're what stopped him from looking truly evil though. They were deep midnight, and if you looked closely, a few tiny white dots could be seen. You'd have lost yourself if you looked into those eyes.

Jim walked out of the room, the door closed behind him. No doubt going to talk to Kecks to see if he knew anything. Oliver turned to the other two in the room.

'You know where everyone else is?' he asked as he jumped off the bed.

'Let's see,' a girl sitting on one of the bottom beds put a file down and closed her eyes. 'We're here; Jim is going up to the officers, Leila having a lesson off Peter and the other two are downstairs,' she opened her eyes again. 'And Paddy has just walked out of his Team's Men Quarters,'

'How you do that is freaky Maxx, you know that?' Oliver said as he stretched out.

Maxx shrugged. 'It works,' she put on a sly smile. 'It's better than accidently blowing up things when I get angry,'

'At least I don't get angry as often as you do,'

Maxx Dyer smiled sadly. It was one of the problems about being the daughter of Ares. A constant pull towards the anger department. She'd worked on it the last couple of years and she'd managed to get it down to the point that she didn't bite people heads off if they did something stupid, but she still fumed inside. She got up, stretching her unusual normal frame for an Ares child. Her straight auburn fell down behind her as she stood up, blinking her bright turquoise eyes. Her lightly freckled face falsely gave the impression she was a girly girl.

'Why's Peter teaching? I thought he had the Doc note,' she asked stretching her arms above her head.

'This is Peter. We're lucky if he even stayed in the guild,' Oliver yawned. 'Someone go and ask him for some more info on this mission,'

'That is suicide. You never interrupt Peter,'

'It's only suicide when he's meditating. When he's teaching it isn't so bad, you only get cleaning duty for a week,'

'I'll do it,' Amethyst said. 'How do I look?'

'Why're you going as Bea?'

'Because that way our group doesn't get cleaning duty for a week,'

Amethyst walked down two flights of stairs and pushed open the door to training areas. Archers were setting up but most were distracted by the fight going on. In the training arena, which was positioned next to the archery range, Peter was teaching a lesson.

'Use you spe-,' a blur shot towards him. Peter thrust a hand out in front of him. The blur stopped suddenly and flew backwards slowing down enough to reveal it as a girl, her dark brown hair flying all over the place.

'Too direct,' Peter sighed. The girl pushed her hair out of her eyes and her green eyes flashed dangerously. Lesser men than Peter would have stepped back.

'Use your speed to confused and disorientate. Attack from behind, there is no such thing as honour in combat. Try using your speed to circle me,'

The girl's eyes studied him hard. Peter's expressionless face didn't move, neither did his body. He held no weapons. A spear lay on the ground.

The girl became a blur again. She sped towards the spear. The spear disappeared as she passed it. Those with quicker eyes noticed the spear angled downwards. The spear hit the ground just in front of Peter. The blur soared over Peter, swinging its spear at his head.

Peter spun round suddenly. His left wing smashing into the side of the spear as his body bent forwards. Peter's leg came up, spinning round with his body slamming into the girl's side. The girl hit the back wall, her spear landed next to her.

'Not bad Leila. Good improvisation but if you want to know, I used a spinning back side kick. The technique lowers the top of the body and attacks at the same time. Good work though,' he held out a hand which she accepted gratefully. He whispered something in her ear and she smiled as she walked off. Some people looked apprehensively at Leila but most people knew nothing was going on. Peter understood everyone in the guild and could talk to anyone about their emotions. It was ironic considering his. Besides, she was only 12 years old while he was 15.

'Peter! The Thunder Bears want to know more info on the mission,' a girl shouted.

Peter Skyrine looked at the girl. Peter stood tall in the middle of the arena, stretching out his arms. He was tall, about 5' 10' and was the leader of the guild. Well, everyone assumed he was leader, nobody questioned it, but he'd never asked to be leader or asked them to call him their leader, he just was. His hair, halfway between blonde and brown, was as messy as ever while his split eyes, half blue half green, were always calm and observant. But the thing that set him apart was his wings. Massive pure white wings were connected to his back. It sometimes caused problems with doorways when he wasn't paying attention.

'The Thunder bears get a week on cleaning duty then,'

'Why?' the girl asked.

'Because, one; you interrupted a lesson, and two, Amethyst Brooks,' he said her name slowly. 'You're missing Bea's ring on her 4th finger,'

Amethyst cursed and transformed back. She grew slightly shorter, her auburn hair turned into sleek black. Her beige skin colour turned into pale while her eyes transform from hazel to dark brown. She crossed her arms and pouted.

'As soon as you get back from your mission, you guys are on cleaning for a week. Think yourself lucky that is isn't two weeks,'

* * *

><p>Paddy and his team strode into the sunlight and headed towards the trucks. Paddy had strapped on his dented breastplate over his 'I'm not drunk, I'm just not sober' T-shirt and had his two crossbows slung over his back. Steff was beside him wearing her combats and breastplate with her fur hat pulled down over her ears, her AK-47 strapped casually to her back. Aurora, Dwayne and Freddie in a mix of leather and plated armour with Aurora with bow, Dwayne with his mace and Freddie with a lot of hammers plus his prized warhammer strapped to his back. Richie was the one who looked most the part. Being a son of Ares and half Maori meant that you had to look good for battle. His jet black armour and shield was bedecked with tattoos and swirls and his serrated scimitar glinted in its sheath.<p>

Jim's team was likely prepared. Jim sat on a crate with his sword sheath. He had his shield strapped to his back over his light bronze armour, his teams insignia painted onto the shield. Jim himself was a skinny guy with hardly any build. Nobody would've believed him if he said he was a son of Hephaestus, which the entire guild knew he was. He had bright blonde hair that was a bit wiry but flopped over the top of his head. His bright blonde hair was only matched by his bright blue eyes that always looked as though he was going to get into something that hadn't got anything to do with him. He did anyway.

Amethyst, as a more subtle way of fighting was preferred, had not kitted out much with just her double blade in her jacket pocket. Leila had some armour on over her shorts and hoodie and was leaning on her spear. Olivier was in armour but had brought nothing but his bead necklace while Maxx was in full armour her sword at her side.

Jim raised an eyebrow as the Paddy and the Eagle Bolts arrived.

"You're late"

"Fashionably, my friend," replied Paddy smoothly "I see thunderbird 1 is ready to go, shall I give you a countdown?"

"Oh ha-ha, we'd better get going" said Jim "Victor's just fixed your truck; two of mine are already in. Any more jokes and I'll remove your compatibility exchange,'

At that moment Victor came round the side of the truck cleaning grease of his hands. He was from Scandinavia and was a dab hand at fixing vehicles. His dog Ulfric was at his side. He nodded to Paddy then went to Freddie to retrieve his equipment, full chain mail, a war helmet with curved down horns and his huge battle axe.

"Well, if we're ready let's get going" said Jim to the group at large.

"Finally," muttered Maxx "I need the sword practise,"

As they started loading Jim whispered to Paddy "Maybe it's a good idea to keep Maxx and Richie apart, if we're going to take this tower by stealth maybe having too many children of Ares in the same place is a bad idea."

"Yeh, I'll make sure of it, the last thing we need is for them to start arguing over whether war dance is necessary" Paddy said scratching his chin "Jim, this mission is bothering me. And I don't mean whether we'll be able to do it or not,'

"What because Peter's left out half the details such as who we're up against and what's so special about the tower. Paddy, it's Peter, we've known him a long time, and he wouldn't send us on a mission if he didn't know we could handle it. As both of us are members of the Seven we should know that Peter keeps secrets. I'm sure it'll be fine,'

"If you say so. I'll buy you a drink when we get back. It's been a while since the Seven have sat down together," they parted each of them heading for a truck. Paddy climbed into the front seat next to Dwayne who was driving.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

"Sure let's go"

"Awesome," replied Dwayne with a grin on his face, "It's a couple of hours, and boss, I've got my Bob Marley mix tape".

**Okay to all people out there. I am not writing this. My friend is writing this with me as his checker. I do hope you enjoy his work.**


	2. Chapter 2

******Once again guys this isn't me writing, it's a friend.**

Chapter 2

The two vans hurtled down dirt tracks towards the destination. Paddy sat in the front seat watching the scenery flash past. They were making good time as Dwayne was paying no regard to the speed limit. Paddy stretched turning things over in his mind while trying to block out the slow and easy tunes of Bob Marley. Battles and faces of friends and enemies and god knows what swam through his mind. Paddy never forgot a face, which meant looking for the right one when you met an old friend took some time and sifting. Putting aside memories and uncomfortable thoughts he focused on the job ahead. He had little time for this however as Jim's van in front had come to a hissing stop.

Jim sat up as the van come to a halt. Next to him Amethyst, who was driving, cursed under her breath. Jim leapt out and strode around the vehicle as Paddy came from the other van with Freddie and Victor behind him.

"Having some problems?" Paddy asked with a grin.

"It just stopped" said Amethyst from the front seat with a frown.

The others still inside the van were beginning to get out. Paddy turned to Freddie.

"Tell everyone to stay put, this shouldn't take very long"

"Ah ha!" cried Jim as Paddy turned back to him. "Punctured tyre"

"That's simple" said Paddy "Victor how long will it take to fix this?"

Victor squatted down "Fifteen minutes" he shrugged.

"Fine" said Jim and wandered to the van to tell the others.

Paddy looked around. It was a fairly large hill top, with the road running down the middle. There were boulders scattered everywhere and there was a large shadow cast by the morning sun shining on the ridge opposite. Everything was still, too still. There was no sound which made Paddy uncomfortable.

"Hey Paddy,"

Paddy turned to see Freddie examining the ground.

"What is it?"

Freddie was son of Ichnaea, god of tracking. He could spot things many people would miss. He pointed to a set of tiny jagged knifes embedded in the road.

"That's what caused the puncture". He then pointed to a hoof print nearby and continued "and the people who laid these are about to turn up to see who set off their food catching device."

"It's called a trap,"

As he said it an arrow thudded into the earth near them. Paddy looked up to see a mob like company of strange horsemen thundering down towards them from the ridge opposite, Onocentaurs. Paddy ran to Jim who was drawing his sword.

"If we fan out we take them down with fire power", shouted Paddy as he reached him.

"No we need someone to get to the tower soon," replied Jim "You and your lot go on ahead and clear it. My guys will take this mob on and then fix the truck."

"But that means you get all the fun!" complained Paddy.

"Just go, there'll be plenty of monsters to kill later"

"Fine, good luck" called Paddy as he dashed towards his van. Dwayne kicked the engine into life and they drove away, swerving up the slope. As it vanished over the crest of the hill Jim thought he heard a shout off "Thunderbirds are Go!" echoing in a distinctly Irish accent. Smiling he turned to his team. Amethyst and jumped out of the driver's seat to join Olivier, Maxx and Leila who were already out. The final two members, Edge and Alex were climbing out of the back.

"Alright," shouted Jim to the group over the hollering and cries of charging Onocentaurs "we've got to take on that lot". He turned to Alex "You're the brains of this team, Athena boy, so any tactics we should use?"

Maxx snorted. "Can't we just use the good old charge at them and shove a spear up their-"

"Actually I've got some idea" said Alex hastily cutting across Maxx. He quickly drew a square in the sand to represent the truck. As he looked up at them is white blonde hair fell into his eyes. "As we're lacking in fire power we should-"

"What about me?" interrupted Olivier pointing to his beaded necklace.

"Well apart from you, Olivier, no one else has anything remotely throwable or shootable so we'll have to take them close up," continued Alex speeding up as the Onocentaurs bore down on them. "How about Olivier stands on the truck while we form a circle round it, then we drive them down hill so they lose momentum"

"Here here, you three go up there, we'll take a stand here" bellowed Jim and they formed up. Amethyst, Edge and Alex headed up the hill while Jim, Maxx and Leila formed a loose wedge formation in front of the truck.

"Here we go" muttered Jim, digging his feet into the ground, he turned and nodded to Olivier on top of the truck who casually threw a bead towards the mob. It bounced once and exploded like a grenade. Two of the beasts disintegrated on the spot as the blast hit them while three others were sent flying. Then all hell broke loose.

The lead Onocentaur barrelled through the smoke and, braying in rage, leapt at Leila. As he descended on her she drove her spear right through his chest. The beast thrashed wildly before disintegrating into dust, even as another charged forwards. Maxx raised her sword and the valley rang with the clash of metal on metal. Jim sidestepped another enemy and the pair joined in a fierce duel. Leila braced again as a third joined the fray, battering it away with her spear. Another explosion ripped the ground asunder as Olivier threw another bead into the melee.

Up the hill north of the truck a quartet of Onocentaurs bore down on Edge, Alex and Amethyst. Edge side stepped the first of them and swung his sword at the second who smashed it aside with his shield. The first Onocentaur kept charging, swiping with a huge jagged axe. Alex dived out the way as he headed straight for Amethyst. Amethyst froze for a second, her eyes calculating. Then she turned and pelted towards a rock behind her readying her blade. The Onocentaur barrelled after her.

"Come on donkey-boy," muttered Amethyst as she reached the rock. She took a breath then as she reached the boulder she kicked of it, flying back towards her foe taking it by surprise. The beast's eyes widened in confusion as it reared .She swiped down with her blade. The left hand side missed. The right side however didn't. Amethyst landed and forward rolled ending up on her feet. She looked behind to see the last remnants of the body disappear. Shrugging she ran back to the fray.

Olivier was having the time of his life. Craters scared the landscape and Onocentaurs were running in panic onto the blades of the other six. As he prepared to throw another one, an axe whistled passed his ear. He looked see one of the creatures bearing down on the van. Its helmet was on fire and was not, Olivier guessed, in a good mood. He jumped back as it swung another axe into the van.

"Hey, that's brand new paint work!" Olivier suddenly realised the problem of only having grenade like beads in a fight. As soon as someone got up close you were done for. Thinking fast he saw that the Onocentaur had left the axe embedded in the van. Scrabbling forward he closed his eyes as he lashed out with his foot. The beast reared, now thoroughly hacked off, blood running down its nose. Olivier lunged for the axe and pulled. It came loose just in time as another axe blow descended on him. Rolling aside to avoid a number of very rapid blows, which dented the van with every hit, Olivier dived at his enraged foe. Somehow he landed on its back, thus begging an uncomfortable experience as he was never good at bucking bronco. He landed flat on his back as the beast stood over him. Closing his eyes he swung the axe, that was somehow still in his hand, embedding it between the beasts rear legs. With a rather high pitched howl the Onocentaur dissolved into dust. Olivier, gasping, quickly clambered onto the van again.

The fight was starting to turn in the team's favour. Jim had finally taken down his sixth opponent and watched as Maxx took down her third.

"Maxx!" he wheezed, "this is not a sporting event, drive them down the hill!"

Maxx, looking unhappy, started sweeping her sword at the Onocentaurs. Even they, who were not particularly bright, did not want to get near her and backed down the hill. Leila joined her jabbing her spear. Jim looked up the hill. There were only two Onocentaurs left. Amethyst had backed one of them into a corner. Alex was helping her, but as he had taken a club to the head and his hair was in his eyes again he wasn't contributing too much. Edge was pacing after the last one, circling it. His icy blue eyes watched for any sign of a break away. The beast snorted, his blood shot eyes staring at Edge. Quick as a flash it bolted cantering to the ridge from where it had come from. Edge grinned has he slipped out the knife from the strap on his arm. It streaked through the air catching the beast on its knee, making it trip and fall. Edge calmly strode over and stood over it.

"Nighty, night," he grinned. A single sweep of his sword silenced it. He turned to see Amethyst slash at the cornered Onocentaur's legs causing it to topple and disintegrate.

"Come on," he said to her and Alex "let's get to the others,"

They jogged down the hill to stand next to Jim.

"They all dead," he said "good, let's take down the last of them"

They advanced slowly towards the remaining six Onocentaurs, who were probably thinking that this lunch plan was turning into a bad idea. Jim waved his sword and a bead from Olivier caused an explosion in the midst of them killing one instantly. The group charged in. Leila took down one on her spear while Amethyst tagged teamed with Edge to bring down another. Maxx cut down the third like fighting was an art form while Alex distracted the forth while Jim leapt up to deliver the killing blow. The final Onocentaur bolted, flying in blind panic down the hill.

"Well he and his mates won't be giving any trouble up here no more" said Jim casually turning to his team. "Now with that out of the way with we get to the hard part". He smiled, "Fixing that van".


	3. Chapter 3

**The guys writing this says he sorry and apologizes for being ill(Yeah right my ass)**

Chapter 3

The van rumbled up yet another hill, the growling engine clashing horribly with Dwayne's singing. Paddy was staring out of the window counting hill tops and trying not to put his fingers in his ears. Dwayne's singing, while not all that bad, could only go so far. The van reached the summit of the hill and rolled to a halt. Paddy leaned out the window.

"Bingo"

The other side of the hill ran steeply down into a deep valley. It was mirrored on the other side making it more like huge walls than slopes. The result was a huge wind tunnel with the grass rippling as gust of wind blew down it. In the centre of it all overshadowed by the foreboding valley walls stood the tower. It was more bashed up than the images had shown. Half of the bottom floor wall was missing and there were several large holes in the upper sections. It seemed to resonate with a low hum as the wind flowed around and through it.

The team had climbed out of the truck. Dwayne raised his eyebrows.

"That's what we're taking?"

"Orders are orders," said Paddy has he stretched and faced the group. "Ok, this place has got to be cleared by the time Jim and his mob get here or I'm going to look bad,"

"Cleared of what?" asked Aurora.

"Of those," Freddie and Steph had crouched down over the ridge and were surveying the power with binoculars. Freddie passed them over to Paddy. As he scanned the tower he let out a sigh. "Oh, this is going to make my day".

The tower courtyard was full of wooden structures, like matchstick frames. But they weren't the problem. The courtyard was being patrolled by heavily armoured warriors.

"Who are they?" murmured Steph.

"No, what are they?" Paddy grimaced as he adjusted the scope. At first glance the armoured things just looked like average warriors. But there was something more sinister. As the scope zoomed in more and more Paddy caught sight of their faces or what should have been their faces. Their skin was a translucent black and underneath there was nothing but dull bone. However it was the eyes that caught Paddy's attention. Were normal eyeballs should have been the sockets were empty apart from small balls of dark blue fire.

"Eurynomos,"

"Bless you, now what are they?" asked Dwayne impatiently.

Paddy sighed as he got up. "Zombies,"

"Wait, I thought zombies are those rotten things that try and eat you while you smash them away with a cricket bat."

"No Dwayne, those are what the general mortal public think that zombies are. These are real zombies and by the lack of flesh I assume that they've been around for quite a long time in their undeadness."

"Are you saying that there are zombie mercenaries units wandering around?"

"It's possible, I'd say that this unit have been around for so long that it has controlled it's thirst for ripping your limbs off and now has decided that it would like to paid to it instead. And that make it all the more dangerous."

"Wait," Aurora butted in, "what would you pay them with?"

"I dunno," muttered Dwayne, "I think the currency of fresh limbs ran out quite a long time ago-"

"I'd assume," said Paddy cutting in hastily, "that they've been promised new armour, new members or the promise that they get to torture the survivors in particularly nasty ways.

"But who would hire them?" asked Steph.

"That we can work out later, all we need to do is take down this lot and secure this ruin before more of them come," said Paddy losing patience. "As I don't want a full on blood bath will do stealth. Dwayne and Victor, you're the cavalry. If things go wrong charge in and smash it up. The rest fan out and dispose of these suckers."

The sun was setting fast as they descended the hill. It was already darkening in the valley. Paddy signalled and Freddie and Steph broke off each heading for either end of the camp. The guard at the entrance stood watching. It was unnerving how it didn't move, its head facing straight forwards. Paddy raised his crossbow. The bolt flew through the air and hit the guard straight in the face. Its skull shattered and it crumbled to dust before it hit the floor. Paddy thought the clang of the armour hitting the floor would have woken the whole camp. On second thoughts being un-dead could be considered a disadvantage as it meant a certain lack of ears meant that would take some considerably noise to alert one. So on second thoughts they weren't that good at guarding, unless they saw you before you saw them.

Paddy, Richie and Aurora advanced into the camp keeping to the shadows. Paddy could see that most of the Eurynomos were around the camp fire in the centre of the courtyard. They seemed to be talking as their mouths were moving with distinct clicking sound. In the centre of them was a small pile off objects, such as coins and ribs. Each of the un-dead had some torn cards in its translucent fingers in what seemed to be a game of poker. Even as Paddy watched one of them reached for a knife cut a hole in its chest and removed a rib before tossing it on the pile. Paddy shook himself and kept moving.

They came across a sentry standing on top of one of the rickety towers. Backing into the shadows Aurora knocked an arrow and let fly cutting it down easily. Even as they prepared to move on a bird whistle caught Paddy's attention. He looked across into the shadows on the other side of the yard and saw Freddie pointing. Turning he saw a sentry heading round their way. He nodded to Richie who paced forward silently drawing his scimitar. As the guard rounded the corner it has the unusual sense of being buried into the ground as Richie drove his sword straight down its throat. Even as it crumbled apart Aurora advanced with her bow knocked on her next target. A sudden chill went down Paddy's neck and he looked up. On the tower above him an archer was drawing its bow marking its sights on Aurora. Before he could raise his crossbow in time, a whooshing sound streaked through the air. A rusty spear flew upwards catching the sentry full in the chest. The lift was so great that it carried the body with it and smashed into the centre of the courtyard sending betting pieces everywhere. Paddy looked at Richie who shrugged.

"I guess the stealth tactic is over then boss?"

He pelted passed Paddy and headed into the fray. He had already cut down two before the rest raised their weapons. The first counter stroke he parried with ease before blocking a second attack with such force that he took the attackers arm off. Even as Paddy aimed his crossbow at one of the sentries Richie sent a head flying through the air. A sickening smash and a flying body heralded the arrival of Freddie as he let hammers fly. Two archers were mowed down in a hail of bullets as Steph's gun roared into life. She threw up a flare and Paddy heard in the distance the van ploughing down the hill. Knocking his crossbow he let fly pinning a Eurynomos against the wall. Even as another advanced he punched two bolts through its chest causing it to buckle over. A blaring horn signalled the van slamming into the ruins running down two advancing un-dead. Above the sounds of battle Paddy heard Dwayne yelling "Who you gunna call?" As he leapt out the van bringing down a mace on the head of the nearest Eurynomos. Victor's hound bounded out of the van pouncing on one of the guards ripping the monster apart in his jaws. Victor wasn't far behind felling an attacker with one swing of his battle axe, felling him like tree. Paddy dodged a flying body sent by Freddie's warhammer and ran to the foot of the tower. A Eurynomos pursued him rasping as it raised its sword. Paddy flung himself into the ruin and turned to see the creature stop as if halted by some invisible wall. It didn't have long to wonder why it couldn't reach him as Paddy pumped a round of crossbow bolts into him. He scrambled to his feet to see Richie cut the last one in two finishing the chaotic melee.

"So much for stealth" said Freddie grinning.

"Change of plan" said Paddy "I forgot that stealth wasn't part of Richie's vocabulary"

"You didn't with the archer" Richie replied shrugging "and the only thing I had to hand was that spear"

"He may not have seen it but I did," grimaced Steph "I wasted nearly a whole clip and I hardly got to use my silencer"

"Doesn't matter" said Paddy turning to examine the ruin, "There's some kind of ward on this place. The Eurynomos couldn't seem to get inside"

"Won't that give us some defence if more come back" asked Freddie.

"When they come back" said Paddy grimly, "and it probably won't. That was just a scout party; the real force isn't here yet. I'm sure that there's something leading these things. These things aren't intelligent enough to just guard something for strategic importance."

"Maybe the lack of brain might affect that," muttered Dwayne.

"They must have some leader who'll give the power to access the tower while they provide the muscle."

"What muscle, they're skeletons with skin and weird glowing eyes. I'm pretty sure muscle doesn't come into that category."

"That's enough, fan out and build some defences in the lower level. Dwayne bring the truck round. We'll wait for the others before we check out the top."

As the others fanned out Paddy scratched his chin in thought.

"Well Peter, tower found: check, find out what we're facing: check. Find out why we're here: not so good. What's so special about this tower then? Is it to do with you?"

He looked at the final rays of the sun.

"I think we're gunna find out soon"


End file.
